New York, NY: AdLedger, the non-profit research and development consortium building and implementing the blockchain standards for digital advertising, today announced the first round of advisory board members including IBM, Omnicom Media Group, Reprise/IPG Mediabrands, TEGNA, Meredith Corporation, Salon Media, CoinDesk, and MAD Network.

“AdLedger is the primary evangelist body that helps develop and usher blockchain standards into the advertising ecosystem,” said Christiana Cacciapuoti, Executive Director of AdLedger. “In order to do this, we need insight from all sides of the industry, which is why we are assembling some of the most prominent advertisers, agencies, publishers and technology providers to join the board.”

In the current digital landscape, as little as 30 cents of every advertising dollar actually makes it to the publisher. The rest is claimed by intermediaries created in an attempt to establish trust and automate an often manual process. Paradoxically, they have made the system less trustworthy, more complex and more expensive.

“Over the last year, there have been multiple calls by senior-level marketers to create more transparency in and improve the quality of, the supply chain. This requires both workflow and process changes as well as leveraging technology solutions like a shared ledger,” said Alysia Borsa, Chief Data and Marketing Officer at Meredith Corporation. “A shared ledger creates a trailing audit allowing for seamless campaign resolution -- and that’s just the beginning of what it can do.”

A single digital ad impression can change hands more than a dozen times before it reaches a consumer and the current media supply chain is so opaque that it’s nearly impossible to track that life cycle.

“Transparency is one of the most important aspects of the digital advertising industry, as well as to the comfort and security our clients, said Tim Ringel, Global CEO, Reprise. “One of our core beliefs is that transparency and accountability are part of the basic rights of advertisers, and should always be upheld.”

AdLedger is very carefully plotting out how it works with the community to develop the standards and best practices to ensure blockchain effectively and positively impacts advertising for the better in the long term. The AdLedger Board of Directors will be tasked with strategic direction and oversight of the consortium.

“As a founding member of AdLedger, we’re excited about the consortium’s growing membership and progress,” said Jim Wilson, President of Premion, TEGNA. “Getting the participation of the industry is essential and we look forward to fostering greater collaboration with our partners to improve trust and transparency in advertising.”

“AdLedger is shaping the future of the advertising industry, bringing back the trust, transparency, and efficiency that’s essential to digital media,” said Chad Andrews, Global Solutions Leader, Advertising & Blockchain at IBM. “With the consortium, AdLedger has assembled, we will have the perfect playbook for driving true, positive change.”

According to the IAB, more than $8 billion a year in advertising is wasted, stolen by clever fraudsters taking advantage of opacity in the supply chain. At the same time, publishers’ margins are squeezed by intermediaries and they’re forced to compete with the reach and targeting of industry giants.

“It’s time for a new era in digital advertising, and AdLedger is going to lay the groundwork for incorporating blockchain-powered solutions,” said Adam Helfgott, CEO at MAD Network and founding member of AdLedger. “The digital landscape is overrun with fraud, brand safety and transparency issues, and the only way to fix it is by rewriting the entire ecosystem.”

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